WASHINGTON — It’s legacy time inside the Bush White House.

On a blustery winter afternoon last week, Laura Bush ushered a reporter and photographer through the newly redecorated Lincoln Bedroom and Sitting Room, the nation’s most historic A-list guest accommodations.

For 30 minutes, a relaxed and chatty first lady padded across the diamond-grid English Wilton carpet that now links the adjoining rooms, pointing out the pair of 1860 John Henry Belter sofas donated by the Winterthur Museum and a Haviland & Co. porcelain fruit basket from the Lincoln china.

“I love houses and history,” Mrs. Bush said as she led the way in her leopard-print ballet flats past the famous Lincoln bed, now topped with a gilded corona that replicates the one she said was “discarded” by the Coolidges.

Since moving into the White House six years ago, the president and first lady have lived more privately than many of their predecessors. Behind-the-scenes glimpses into their lives are hard to come by.

Last week’s visit was not exactly on a par with Jackie Kennedy’s breathy 1962 TV tour of her refurbished White House, which charmed 56 million viewers and catapulted her to icon status in the world of style and historic preservation.

It was, instead, a quiet glimpse into the upstairs rooms of the Bush White House during a presidency mired in an unpopular war and dogged by sinking approval ratings. But events of state don’t stop the constant swatching and swagging that goes on in a 207-year-old house with 100 rooms and 35 bathrooms.

Laura Bush, White House curator William Allman, and the Committee for the Preservation of the White House took on the refurbishment of the two rooms in 2004 with the goal of making them more representative of Lincoln’s time. During the Lincoln years, the larger room had actually served as the president’s office and Cabinet room, not as sleeping quarters. It was Harry S. Truman who in 1945 had the idea of gathering and displaying historical items associated with the 16th president in the two rooms on the residence’s second floor. For this refurbishment, curators combed historical drawings, photos, and news accounts to help them reproduce the Victorian decor of the Civil War era.

The White House has been home to 41 families. Every first lady since Abigail Adams has left her stamp on the house in a continuum that churns up desks, settees, and framed portraits from White House storage, then often banishes them again when a new occupant takes charge.

One space has escaped all the tides of change. Overnighters in the Lincoln rooms have the use of a well-preserved 1950s bathroom, installed during the Truman presidency, with pale green opaque glass tiles and a mirrored dome ceiling light. Thick white towels and Aveda hair products are provided. The spacious tub has an elegant sandblasted etching of a presidential eagle.

Mrs. Bush said she is pleased with the restoration. “I would never pick those draperies for my own house,” she said, eyeing the opulent cornices and folds of gold fabric ornamented with cording and tassels at the bedroom windows. “But it’s fun to have them here.”